Year 4 - Miss Humble

Welcome to Year 4!

Some important reminders: 

• PE is on a Friday and the children can wear their school PE kit all day. 
• Football with Arj is on a Wednesday lunchtime. Please bring football kits to school to change into.
• Water bottles should be brought in to school every day.
• Please remember to bring in reading books and home school diaries every day.
• Music Lessons - 

Violins are to be brought into school on a Tuesday.

Autumn 2 

 

Science - Ice cup experiment

The children have thoroughly enjoyed our science lessons this term! This week we carried out the 'Ice cup experiment'. The experiment taught the children about the process of evaporation and condensation using just a glass, some hot water and a couple of ice cubes. The children saw the warm water evaporate slowly and the water vapour rising to the top of the glass. The ice then cooled the water vapour and it condensed, turning back into a liquid and dripping down into the glass again. This experiment will contribute to our future lessons this term which will be focused on 'The Water Cycle'.

 

 

November - Swimming 

The children have now started Swimming at Southmoor! We will be Swimming once a week from now up until Christmas!

 

 

Arctic Day

This term the Year 4 children have all taken part in Arctic Day! The children had a fantastic time creating their own Kraken which links in with our English story 'Pugs of the Frozen North' as well as spending the afternoon with a brilliant guest who taught the children all about what life would be like living in the Arctic! The children had the chance to try on clothing which would protect them in the cold conditions as well as cooking and tasting some rationed food! The children learnt a lot about life in the Arctic which will contribute to our work in Science, DT and Geography this term.

 

Dodgeball Festival 

Year 4 had a brilliant time taking part in a Dodgeball Festival at the Raich Carter centre. The children competed against multiple other schools, developing lots of new skills and techniques as well as understanding the importance of teamwork!

 

 

 Autumn 1

 

 

English - Freeze frames

The children had a fantastic time working in small groups to create freeze frames which retold the Mayan soothsayer's story of the Battle of Quirigua. This is the book we are currently focused on in English. The children enjoyed being able to act out the event using pictures which will help support the children when writing a letter to recount the battle.

 

 

 

Magical Maths

We have now completed our first Magical Maths problem solving and reasoning activity. Our first problem today looked at two fictional creatures called Zios and Zepts. The Zios have 3 legs and the Zepts have 7 legs. Explorer Nico, saw a crowd of Zios and Zepts. He managed to see that there was more than one of each kind of creature. Suddenly they all rolled over onto their backs and put their legs in the air. He counted 52 legs.

The children's challenge was to figure out how many Zios and how many Zepts were there? The children had a go at drawing the creatures and came up with a combination of different answers to the question. This activity was brilliant in helping the children with multiples of 3 and 7. 

History 

This half term we have been exploring the Mayan civilisation. We have been learning about when and where the remains of the civilisation were discovered, the buildings that were important to them and how their society was structured. The children enjoyed having a go at making their own 3D Mayan temple replica of Mexico’s Chichen Itza.

 

 

 

St Aidan’s Church Visit 

The Year 4 children had a fantastic visit to St Aidan's Church where Father David taught us all about Baptism in the Christian Church, this linked in with our recent RE lessons on the topic of baptism. The children learnt about the importance of the Holy water and its purpose in the ceremony. The children also had the opportunity to hold the christening shell and candle as well as witnessing a christening take place… of a minion toy that is.

 

Science

Year 4 have loved our topic on States of Matter so far this term in Science! We have been looking at solids, liquids and gases and how different materials can change state. We investigated to find their different properties. We then experimented with Non-Newtonian liquids (slime). We had lots of fun observing what happened when we squashed, bounced and stretched to see how the slime acted.

 

We also experimented with cream and made observations on what happens when we shake it! The children enjoyed shaking jars of cream and discovering that we can make butter!

 

 

Autumn 1

The Year 4 children have been learning all about the Mayan civilisation this term. We have covered this topic in both English and History. The children will be reading the Rain Player book which will provide inspiration and ideas for their writing. In Science we will learning all about different states of matter. In RE we have been learning about baptism and the Holy Trinity, this will link up with our educational visit to St Aidan’s Church.